Living The Crazy Life: Chapter 4
by LittleAnnie1
Summary: Fourth chapter up! Let me know what you think! There will be many more to come.


Joe stared at Mel with a look of shock. He couldn't believe that he just said he wanted to go on a _real_ date with Mel. Or at least that's what it sounded like. Mel's mouth hung open.  
"Um, say that again?" Mel said with a utterly startled tone. Joe regained conciousness and nodded.  
"Burke, it sounded like I said I wanted to have a date with...you." Joe answered.  
"Oh. Um, I really...don't know how to answer that..." Mel blushed. Joe felt a smile slowly come to his lips.  
"Okay. To be honest...I never thought I'd ever have the guts to ask that." Mel laughed.  
"Longo, I think I have my answer." Mel said confidently. Maybe this was the oppurtunity to express her true feelings for Joe! "I would love to go on a date with you, Joe." Joe turned his head.  
"REALLY? I mean, really? I never thought...you would...ever say yes... not that I ever thought about it...-"  
"I know. I get it." Joe smiled. Mel returned his gaze, blushing once again.

"You did what?!" Stephanie cried when Mel told her about Joe asking her on a so-called date. Mel didn't expect this reaction.  
"Look, Stephanie. I know this is sudden, but this is actually making me happy!"Mel suddenly stopped talking. She couldn't let Joe know how she felt- what was she thinking? This wasn't like her...  
"Stephnanie! I can't let Joe know how I feel about him! It..It will ruin everything we have! Not that we have anything... I don't want there to be anything." Mel sighed. Stephanie couldn't believe this. How stubborn could Mel be?  
"But Mel, I thought you cared about Joe. I mean, by the looks of it, It looks like you might love-"  
"Woah! That's too far, Stephanie. But, I am looking forward to this date. This might be the way we_ ever_ end up together." Mel said, smiling.  
"Fine." Stephnaie agreed. Mel handed her somepaperwork and they got working.

Lennox opened the front door to her home. She tossed her backpack on the floor. She looked around; nobody was home.  
"Hello? Joe? Ryder?" She yelled, entering the kitchen. To her surprise, she saw Joe texting someone at the counter.  
"Oh, hey. I didn't she you there, Joe." Joe nodded and kept his eyes on his phone. Lennox rolled her eyes.  
"Who are you texting, know, huh?" Joe looked up at her. His eyes widened.  
"Um, nobody..." Lennox shook her head.  
"It has to be someone." She walked towards Joe and quietly looked over his shoulder. She covered her mouth to keep from screaming.  
"OMG! You're texting Aunt Mel!" Joe turned around quickly.  
"So? What's so wrong with that, Lennox?" Lennox put her hand on her hip.  
"You are a man...she's a WOMAN... and only a couple text eachother like you to do." Joe shook his head.  
"We are talking about... buisness. Our buisness that YOU should not be IN." Joe clearly stated.  
"Fine. But I will NOT stop bugging you until you admit you like Aunt Mel." Lennox said, poking him.  
"Whatever." Joe declared. Lennox picked up her IPhone and left the room. As soon as Lennox left Mel walked in tiredly. Joe smiled at her.  
"Hey."  
"Hey Longo. Wait, were we supposed to go on that date-thing tonight? Joe, it's raining." Mel said sadly.  
"I mean, we can eat dinner in the... room over the garage. That is-only if you want to." Mel nodded.  
"Sure- why not." Joe and Mel proceeded to go outside.

"You know, Longo, you really need to clean this crappy place up." Mel said, handing Joe the bowl of popcorn. They were in Joe's 'crib', as he called it. Mel flicked the telivison on and glared around Joe's messy room. He laughed.  
"I'll be on it by tomorow boss." Mel looked up at him and he returned her gaze. Mel and Joe sat down and Mel took a handful of popcorn.  
"So, Longo, I've got to admit. You aren't so bad at making microwave popcorn." Joe snickered.  
"Yeah, thanks."  
"Your welcome."  
"Hey, Mel... do you think it's weird... you know...us basically together ALONE in my room?" Joe asked quietly. Now that she thought about it, maybe Joe was right. Then she looked at the bottle of wine that sat on the telivison. And that was all she could remember.

7AM  
Mel always hated hangovers. Ever since she was a teen she always hated the uncomfortable feeling. The next morning, things were even MORE uncomfortable than expected.  
Mel opened her eyes; her head was spinning. She didn't reconize the room she was in; it looked like...Joe's room..? She quickly glared up at the blurry image of the 4 empty beer bottles on Joe's telivision stand. WAIT, DID ME AND JOE GET DRUNK LAST NIGHT? OH NO! Mel sat up straight and saw Joe; his head was barely laying on Mel's ankle. She slept with her hand on his shoulder.  
"Joe!" She whispered. He didn't respond. "Joe! Get UP!" She said. Joe jumped and sat up. After he looked around his room a couple of times, he looked over and his eyes widened.  
"Mel? What happened?" Joe held his head.  
"You tell me. Looks like we got drunk." Mel explained. Her eyes traveled down to Joe's lips. Her head turned. "Joe,"She gigled, " Why is there lipstick all over your mouth?" Joe felt his mouth and looked at his fingers. His eyes bolted up to Mel's.  
"And why is it the same color as yours?" Mel's mouth fell open.  
FLASHBACK  
Mel and Joe took sips of their second beers. Mel was flipping through channels and Joe watching whatever she put on.  
"Joe," Mel slurred her words, "Why do we hate eachother?" Joe looked at her lovingly.  
"Who said I hated you?" Joe declared, now very drunk. "You are, like, the most, like, beautiful woman I have ever, like, seen! Face it Mel, you are, like, hot." Mel poked him.  
"Oh, really? You aren't so bad yourself." Just then Joe grabbed her forcefully and kissed her. She was scared at first, but Mel slowly gave into it. After 2 minutes of absolute chaos, Mel and Joe released.  
"What are we doing, Joe?" Mel whispered. Joe stepped away from Mel.  
"I am, like, sorry Burke." Joe answered, still very drunk.  
Mel and Joe sat on the floor, and pretty soon, fell asleep.  
END OF FLASHBACK  
"Oh. Well that explains it." Mel quietly said. Joe was smiling at her. Mel rolled her eyes.  
"What? Do I have somethingon my face, Longo?" She impatiently asked. Joe was smirking now.  
"Burke, do you know what this means?" He stood up. Mel stood up with him.  
"No." Joe crossed his arms.  
"This MEANS that you LIKE me, Burke." Mel gasped.  
"What?! Me- like- YOU?! What- that's nuts-"  
"Nah, don't try to deny it, Mel. I can see that sparkle in your eyes- we Longo's call that the Longo sparkle." Mel rolled her eyes.  
"First of all, ewe, and second, can't you really think of a better name than the 'Longo Sparkle'? C'mon. I'm thinkin' you like ME." Joe nodded.  
"Ok, you are right about the name thing. But, Mel, I am your- freelance- manny."  
"So?!" Mel yelled.  
"We are friends, looking out for eachother. You know, Burke and Longo, a great team."  
"You're right," Mel said.  
"Unless," Joe declared. "You think that there's something else..?" Mel looked away. Just as she was about to say something, they both heard a knock at Joe's door. Joe and Mel gasped in unison.  
"Who is it?" Joe yelled nervously. Neither of them moved.  
"It's Lennox and Ryder. Where.. is Aunt Mel?" Lennox yelled back. Mel gasped and Joe put his left hand over her mouth to stop Mel from yelling. She slouched and crossed her arms.  
"Um, she needed an extra pillow and she...came to me...for...it." Lennox opened the door.  
"Aunt Mel?" She called walking in. Mel bent down quickly and grabbed a blanket off Joe's couch and pretended like she was walking up the stairs.  
"Oh, hey Lennox... What's up?" Mel wondered , frightnened.  
"Hi... hey Joe, can we have breakfast now?"  
"Yes." Joe said, relieved Lennox didn't ask anything he or Mel couldn't answer. They proceeded upstairs until Mel grabbed his shirt and made him almost fall down the steps.  
"Joe, are we just gonna act like this never happened?" Joe crossed his arms angrily.  
"Act like what happened?" Joe whispered. "What happened?"  
"We kissed. It's all coming back to me now."  
"We went over this, Mel-"  
"Yeah, I know we did! But there must be something more between us! If we kissed eachother like we wanted to, there must be something more." Mel blushed. Joe blushed with her.  
"Are you still drunk?" Joe stupidly asked. Mel sighed.  
"I wish." Joe laughed. "But really, Longo, if this-that- oh, whatever the hell hapened last night is gonna get in the way of our friendship, we should let eachother know, right?"  
"Right."  
"That was all a big mistake, right?" There was a moment of silence. Mel stared at Joe, waiting for an answer.  
"Right."  
"So if we ever did kiss again, it would be REALLY wrong right?"  
"Right, Mel. Now let's go upstairs so Lennox and Ryder won't be worrying."

(PS, Mel and Joe and Lennox and Ryder are sitting at the kitchen table, just 5 minutes after the last scene in the chapter.)  
Lennox just stared at her Aunt Mel. Ryder was, too. Even Ryder saw the connection between the 2 adults at the table. Mel would shoot a look at Joe, Joe shot a look at Mel, like a secret code. Lennox knew the connection between Aunt Mel and Joe all along. She also knew how madly in love she was with him, even though she says it was just a 'crush'. Lennox also knew that Joe felt the same. If only she knew what happened last night, it would all just make sense. Suddenly she heard her name.  
"What?!" She yelled louder than anticipated. Mel jumped.  
"Lennox, I said that you should stop staring at Me and Joe. It's kinda creepy." Mel said. Ryder laughed at Lennox, and Lennox shot him a look.  
"Sorry." He mumbled.

Joe plopped on the couch and turned on the telivision. He was off, and he was completely bored, with the kids at school. Mel was coming home early, at least he had that to look forward to. He looked at his watch; Mel would be home any minute. She burst through the door with a happy expression. Joe quickly turned around with a smile on his face.  
"Hi." Mel said, smiling.  
"Hey. Do you want to watch-" Joe quickly glared at the TV to notice what was on, "The Brady Bunch with me?" He asked. Mel rolled her eyes and took a seat next to him.  
"Really, Joe? I thought you would be watching something real manly, like animal planet." She teased.  
"Hey, I was flipping through channels! And you shouldn't talk. I hear you crying when you watch 'The Proposal' every night!" Mel nodded.  
"Hey! Sandra Bullock holds a place in my heart!" She said playfully, slapping his arm. Joe smiled and turned on the tv. A few minutes later, Mel glared over at Joe. She felt her heart jump at every second. She blushed and just then, Joe looked over at her.  
"What?" He said. Mel snapped out of her daze.  
"Umm, nothing." Mel said, looking away. Joe tapped on her.  
"I said nothing. I wasn't looking at you."  
"Yes you were."  
"Nope." Joe sighed. He turned towards her and slowly leaned towards Mel, making their faces only an inch apart. Mel was startled, her eyes widened. She found it really hard not to grab Joe and just kiss him, her self control was not helping.  
"Now. Were you staring at me?" Mel didn't move. She didn't even blink.  
"Why does it matter?" Mel whispered. Joe shrugged.  
"I just wanna prove that you like me." Mel laughed to her self silently.  
"Not gonna happen." She exclaimed slyly. "And, if you don't like ME, then why are you this close?" Joe looked down. Should he kiss her, or not? Joe moved away and slouched.  
"Fine." He turned the volume back up again and Mel and Joe pretended like what they both just did never hapened. Well, almost.  
Mel thought deeply about Joe. About what just happened. About what would happen if she kissed him again. When Mel was being honest with herself, she would remember all the times Joe has shown signs of caring strongly for her, like when he got her that basket filled with all the hotel stuff. She knew he would never feel the same, so what was the use?

Mel and Joe sat on the couch. Lennox and Ryder were up in their rooms, and Joe was watching football. She was just sitting there. She stared at the tv, her mind blank. Joe had his arm up on the couch, and it was near her. _Why doesn't he just put his arm around me?_"Hey, Mel?" Joe said. Mel jumped and turned her body towards him.  
"What?"  
"I'm sorry, for.. you know... ever saying that you would like me.. although, it doesn't seem very hard..." That's all Mel heard from there. Mel moved closer towards Joe, still hearing nothing that he said. He sudenly stopped talking.  
"What?" He said. Mel didn't respond. She didn't want to. She just wanted to.. kiss HIM. Oh, god she wanted to! Her feelings took over. Suddenly, she found herself grabbing Joe's shirt and kissing him! He didn't hold back, either. She threw her arms around his neck, making them even closer than before. Joe snapped back into reality.  
"What are we doing?" He whispered, still so close to Mel that he could feel her breath on his face.  
"I don't know.." Mel's voice traveled off.  
"We can't do this..." Joe added.  
"But... I thought you wanted me to..."  
"I know...but I kinda did." Mel smiled.  
"Why... did you kiss me back if we can't... you know.." She whispered to Joe.  
"Do you realize what you just asked me? You kissed me first." Mel moved away from him, although her arms were still on Joe.  
"Yes, because I wanted to! I like you!" Mel gasped and covered her mouth. She stood up and started pacing.  
"Really...?" Joe said softly. "Cause, I can't deny it, Burke, I think I like you, too." Mel stopped in her tracks and walked towards Joe. She didn't kiss him; she didn't hug him. She went to his ear and whispered softly so only he could hear.  
"I love you..." She said, putting her head down. "I want to be with you."  
"I know.. but we can't."  
"Why not?" Mel said her eyes wide. "I love-"  
"I know you love me! I love you! But things are to damn complicated!" Joe yelled. Mel grabbed his hands and layed them on his chest. She felt tears rolling down her cheeks.  
"I love you, Joe.. please.." Joe realeased them.  
"I love you, too, Mel. But there is to much at risk." And she watched Joe, the man she said she loved, walk out of the room. The pain in her heart was to much to bear. She grabbed her coat and slammed the door behind her. Joe threw his face into his hand, stressed and in love with the woman who he made hate him.


End file.
